Once you’ve determined the purpose of a child’s or student’s seemingly senseless behavior by doing a functional behavior assessment (FBA), the next step is to work on changing or modifying the behavior. Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! follows-up on Dr. Glasberg’s previous book, Functional Behavior Assessment for People with Autism, with a guide to developing an effective behavior intervention plan to stop undesirable behaviors such as hitting, screaming, or repetitive questioning.

Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! outlines an educational approach for parents, teachers, adult service providers, and aides that not only quickly reduces the problem behavior but also teaches the individual with autism new skills to get his needs met. It covers:

Review of what an FBA is

How behavior is learned and unlearned

Preventing challenging behavior

Replacement behaviors

Reinforcement techniques

Pros & cons of reinforcement vs. punishment

Interventions tailored to the function of the problem behavior

Collecting and graphing data

Writing behavior intervention plans

Troubleshooting

Positive Behavior Supports

Full of case studies and “Keep it Simple” tips, plus forms, figures, and graphs, Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! offers families and professionals proven strategies to change a person’s challenging behavior, helping him to have a more productive and inclusive future.

An example from the book of an FBA-based intervention: Marie's problem behavior was swearing. An FBA revealed that Marie's swearing functioned to obtain attention from a preferred teacher. Her behavioral intervention allowed her five fewer swear words per day in order to obtain her reinforcer: 15 minutes of special time with her preferred teacher. In order to increase her chances of success, once Marie was only swearing 20 times per day, the allowed swears were reduced by only one each day. The teachers used a token board to help her visualize how many "swears" she had left. After two months, Marie was down to zero swearing incidents per day, and maintained this decreased level one year later.

"Individuals with autism may exhibit behaviors that don’t make sense to others. Some make funny faces in response to questions, hand flap, or talk endlessly about a single topic of interest. Other behaviors, like head banging, biting and hitting are dangerous not only to the individual but also to others. This book provides an overview of functional behavior assessments and how to use the information to create behavioral health plans to stop senseless behaviors, while reinforcing more acceptable ones.

Included in the book are charts readers can use to help figure out the activities and situations that elicit different behaviors and what they mean. For example, some behaviors are to get attention; or to avoid tasks the individual is asked to do, like homework. Other behaviors are to get access to preferred materials, like a favorite food or book. Successive chapters provide guidance, for parents and professionals, to help them figure out what each behavior means, and ideas for introducing a new behavior or skill to replace a less desirable or dangerous behavior. In addition, there are examples of ways to reinforce the new behaviors and skills. Of particular use is the chapter about strategies for preventing challenging behaviors, ideas any parent or teacher might use to diffuse a difficult situation and redirect a child’s attention.

The appendices include sample checklists that may be used to enhance communication between home and school as sample behavior plans." -Newsline, Fall 2010 (Federation for Children with Special Needs)

"This is one of THE best resource publications that I've come across. I appreciate her no-nonsense writing style, paired with conceptually systematic methods and technological language. I am recommending this book to my colleagues who are going through the BCBA program, as well as those who have already completed certification. Thank you, Dr. Glasberg, and thanks to Woodbine House for publication." -Lori Babbitt, MEd, BCBA

"This workbook is well organized and provides clear guidelines on using functional behavioural assessment to solve behavioural issues in people with autism. Author Beth A. Glasberg applies the principles of behavioural analysis using charts, case examples, and checklists. Although the most complex problems are perhaps best left to board certified behavioural analysis, she makes approaching simple behavioural issues less daunting for parents, occupational therapists and other professionals without this higher level of training.

Because so many children with autism are receiving behavioural based intervention, it is important for occupational therapists to be knowledgeable about and utilize the same principles in order to provide consistency of approach whenever possible. Behavioural analysis has also been proven through research to be effective with this challenging group of clients. A researcher herself, Dr. Glasberg, cites many well respected bodies of work to back up her approach.

This workbook is not easy reading due to the highly technical subject. It does however provide a useful framework for tackling problem behaviours in people with autism and may also be useful with other populations when behaviours are a concern." -Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, April 2010

"Functional Behavior Analysis--FBA--is an essential tool for remediating negative and disruptive behaviors. Whether you’re acquainted with FBA or find yourself adding another new acronym to your vocabulary, this book is the ultimate resource for all levels!

Technical enough for use by professionals yet not so entrenched in lingo that it is difficult to understand, Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! brilliantly describes the basics of behavior, illustrates the critical function of conducting FBAs, and includes in-depth details that define why, when and how to create and implement one. Armed with real-life examples, check-lists, and sample forms to guide you (not to mention frequent Keep it Simple boxes that concisely summarize the content), anyone--parent, teacher or clinician--can use the information in this book as the foundation for treatment plans and IEPs that will successfully improve outcomes. Even if you don't currently need a formal behavior plan for a child, this research-based book will help you better understand behavior, the real role it serves, and the best way to change it.

Why guess with trial-and-error, and inadvertently risk reinforcing negative behaviors, when you can rely on this book to pave the way? Beth Glasberg has generously shared her professional experience. Let her help you build the self-esteem of our children with autism by replacing the negative with positive, purposeful behavior." -Autism Asperger's Digest, May-June 2009

"Three of the things that set children with autism apart from others are social skills, communication, and behavior. This book addresses all three, since often the odd or 'bad' behaviors are attempts at communicating needs and wants and the interventions include replacing inappropriate behaviors with appropriate social or communication skills. The target audience is parents, caregivers, teachers, and other professionals who work with children with behavioral issues who have autism or other diagnoses. Dr. Beth Glasberg is a board certified behavior analyst, has written two other texts on autism, and has twice received the Lebec Prize for Research in Autism. The author gives an overview of Functional Based Assessment (FBA) and learning theory, describes classes of behaviors and how to implement specific intervention strategies for them, how to measure effectiveness of the intervention program, problem behavior prophylaxis, and how to write up the behavior intervention plan for others who work with the child. She addresses contraindications and ethical concerns as well. Interesting vignettes and practical strategies makes this book a pleasurable read. Although the reading level is between a 10th and 11th Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, she uses common, everyday examples to explain difficult concepts. The author also uses additional techniques to facilitate understanding the topic, such as descriptive chapter titles and subheadings, font changes for new terms and concepts, in-text definitions, bullet points and numbered lists, numerous concise summaries, charts and checklists, an FAQ, an index, and helpful appendices. Although this book is intended to be read after her other work, Functional Behavior Assessment for People with Autism: Making Sense of Seemingly Senseless Behavior, she gives enough background information that it can be read on its own. However, the reader will probably be eager to obtain the first book--this reviewer certainly is. As one out of every 150 children is being diagnosed with autism, this valuable text is highly recommended for all consumer health and academic health collections." -CAPHIS Consumer Connections

"Autism is a mystery to many, understanding it being truly difficult. Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior!: FBA-based Interventions for People with Autism is a guide for parents and adults who deal with autistic children, seeking to help them better understand autism and the erratic behavior that comes along with it. With suggestions and advice for dealing with these the right way when dealing with autism, Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! is a must get for anyone who deals with autism on a frequent basis."Library Bookwatch, March 2009

"As was the case with her first book, Dr. Glasberg has laid out essential information in a well organized and helpful fashion. For those struggling with challenging behaviors in persons with autism, this is one of the best books you can read--immensely useful, insightful, and clinically sound. Both professionals and parents alike will find this book to be an invaluable resource for developing, implementing, and evaluating comprehensive behavioral interventions." -David Celilberti, Ph.D., BCBA President of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment

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